CommUNITY Champion: Central Florida: pastor spreads love by helping the most vulnerable

Friends, colleagues and supporters describe Dr. Joel C. Hunter as a humble, kind servant.

Born in Ohio, he moved to Orlando in the 1980s after spending 15 years in Indiana as pastor of the second-largest United Methodist Church in that state.

Hunter served as the pastor of Northland Church in Longwood for 32 years.

Under his leadership, Northland grew from a few hundred people to 20,000 every week across three locations.

"At first, our motto was we love everybody who walks in the door. But then our motto was we love everybody who will never walk in the door," he says.

He stepped down in 2017 to embark on a new mission and became Pastor of Community Benefit at Action Church.

Hunter's community work is nationally and internationally recognized. He says he wants to be a bridge-builder by trying to find common ground for the common good.

"We were always interested in those who were incarcerated, homeless, going through terrible crisis in their lives. We knew we needed to include them because that's how we learned not only to love better but how they love better," Hunter says.

"Those are some of the most notable, noble, generous, wonderfully wise people, and I gravitate toward people like that."

Hunter says he doesn't serve for the awards or accolades. It's a calling from Christ. Throughout the years, Hunter helped lead community efforts by focusing on ways to give back outside the walls of the church.

Whether it's food drives, visiting prisons, collecting donations or fighting for underserved communities, Hunter says it's a gift to love your neighbors as yourself.

"By listening by treating them with respect. Helping out if we can, by being with people even if we can't. Not only will their lives get better, but our lives get better," Hunter says.